A reagent kit includes reagents required for analysis of a sample, and also prescribes a procedure for preparing these reagents. Examples of such analysis include: detection of a specific sequence or a gene mutation, such as SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism), present in genomic DNA or RNA of animals including humans, plants, bacteria, or viruses with the use of a gene analyzer; detection of presence or absence of a protein; and enzymatic reaction. The present invention can be applied not only to these analyses but also to all the analyses using a reagent kit.
In the field of life science such as in research on gene analysis or clinical examination, various reagent kits are provided. Many reagent kits are designed to be used for analysis by mixing two or more reagents included therein to prepare a reaction liquid and then mixing the reaction liquid with a sample to be analyzed. The amounts of the individual reagents to be mixed to prepare a reaction liquid are specified in their instruction manuals.
In many cases, only the amounts of the reagents required to be prepared for analysis of one sample are described in the instruction manuals. Therefore, each time analysis needs to be performed, an operator (reagent kit user) prepares reaction liquids one by one according to the number of samples, or prepares a reaction liquid in an amount corresponding to the number of samples at a time and then dispenses the reaction liquid into the individual samples. However, the amount of a reaction liquid required for analysis of one sample is several tens of microliters or less, and therefore, in the former case where a reaction liquid is prepared for each sample in such a small amount, it is difficult to uniformly prepare all the reaction liquids, which is one of the causes of variations in results. Therefore, many reagent kit operators prepare a reaction liquid in an amount corresponding to the number of samples at a time, and then dispense the reaction liquid into the individual samples.